Charleston Southern

When your brother is five years younger than you, knocking them around the house loses its joy after a couple of rounds. He does not hit back hardly at all, is not old enough to even tattle effectively, and heck you even find yourself rooting for him on occasion. Maybe in 15 years he will have a great job, loads of cash and an interesting string of girlfriends, but I think it is time to find somebody my own size to scrap with. Sooner rather than later...

BTW, was it a good sign that when I landed in Phoenix yesterday, my two rental car choices both had Oklahoma plates?

So what did we learn in this shallacking? We learned that 6 pm is about the perfect time for a home football game. Time to crank out some morning errands, watch the early games in desperate hope that every other University in Florida finds a way to lose, eat like a supermodel who has just been told her career is over, and still leave Doak by 10 pm. We learned that if you bought a 20 piece McNuggets, you would have one for every member of the Charleston Southern band. And with an ESPN3 telecast, we were reminded of the mid 80's when our heroes played without commercial interruption and the games went by so fast there was not even time to visit the new Chick Fil-A stands behind section 35...

My concerns about our offense were not eased in this blowout. EJ is just not seeing the field like I had hoped he would. He got little Bert Reed sawed in half at the goal line, and there was no magician to put him back together. He had an ugly pick 6 in the second half by throwing to the wrong shoulder of Rodney Smith and goodness does he leave some points in his pocket on some deep overthrows. I would guess that going forward we will see even more bubbles than on Don Ho karaoke night. Safe passes, and the re-emergence of the option game seem to be his strength. Our pass protection is solid, but last year the variety of blitzes OU sent confused even Christian. EJ needs to be decisive and Jimbo needs a gameplan that takes the safety sitting in the middle of the field out of the equation. Our WR corps is deep, talented and very, very young...especially if greybeards Reed and Haulstead can't go. Scooter, Rashad and Greg Dent call all make people miss after the catch. Quick slants, outs and WR screens will make OU feel like a regular day at practice, but I still like our chances.

The second half this week was interesting in that the coaches, sensing my personal frustration with the running game, changed the OL by switching Stork and Fahrenkrug. It seemed to work, or it may have been that the CSU coaches had inserted the woodwind section in on the Defensive front for the second stanza. In any case, for the first time in two games, we got hats on hats and created some holes which Jermaine Thomas was incredibly grateful for. This team has to run this week or EJ is going to leave Doak from a red & white vehicle parked in the corner of the endzone. Chris Thompson is our quickest back and should get the ball in between the 20's, and when we get close, go with Ty, JT and maybe even piledriver James Wilder Jr. This is also the week that we let the world discover our secret weapon in TE NIck O'Leary. This fab freshman is uncoverable by LB's, so let's send him the rock. Besides, our other TE's are so busy in Mensa training that they have not had time to remember the snap count and try to jump offsides at least three times a game.

Our hope to win this one comes from the mean boys on the other side of the street. I love our D-line like I love anything that ends in alfredo. Our boys do not overpursue and since every team thus far has chosen to double down on the beef in the middle, we should have an All-American or an angry German single teamed on every snap. A couple early Spurrier-esque echo of the whistle blasts on Landry Jones might change the complexion of this game, and he looks like he visits the same dietitian as Clint Trickett, so maybe he will beat EJ to the corner of the end zone. Heard that Xavier Rhodes was in a walking boot on Monday, so we need Mike Harris and Greg Reid watch hours of 2010 game film and come out of the locker room like rabid wolfhounds. And if we are not so close to their wideouts that we know if they used scope or listerine, then we can finally know that big brother has compromising teenage pictures of our defensive coordinator.

So, it is time. Time for the little brother to exact some revenge. I have not seen his girlfriends, but he does have a great job and loads of cash. It is time. Let's make the best atmosphere in Doak in 15 years worth it. Compete for a whole game and if we can keep it close, maybe the magic of Doak and a deep defense can bring us a 4th quarter miracle finish.